Why Are Female Employees Bad At Negotiating Salary

Dec 5 2019 By yusma
Women empowerment
Women empowerment

Why do female employees settle for so much less than they actually deserve?

There has been a continuous research on this topic. However, there seems to be no definitive answer on why?

Why is there a wage gap between the pays that men and women get, even when we have the same qualifications.

These issues have surfaced after the movement for gender equality.


The more that we are focusing on women empowerment, the more these issues will be solved.


Wage Gap VS Equal Pay for Equal Work:

Let’s start first with what all the research lately points at.


As you go through the related researches you will find out that the phrase “holding other factors constant”.

This brings us to these two different terms: Adjusted VS. Unadjusted wage gap.

Hours worked, occupations chosen, education and job experience are the factors that are normally adjusted to the median salary.

But what most people seem to forget is that gender pay gap and equal pay for equal work are two very distinct terms.


People assume that when women try to take some steps in empowerment, they don’t understand these things.

The issues with gender equality has prevailed far too long in the work environment and its high time we give this a serious thought.

So, today let’s learn why female employees, even when they do equal work, receive lesser salaries.

These might be the possible reasons why we don’t yet see this gender equality in the pay:


  • Choice of Industry
  • Discrimination
  • Gender Norms
  • Culture
  • Salary Negotiation

The other factors are still controversial and haven’t been proven by any research.

Salary Negotiation is something that out of all these factors, that a woman might be able to have some control over.

Most of the times, even the choices that females makes, they rarely have their control on.


Women generally work lesser hours in many countries but this is due to their obligations at home.

The empowerment of women is necessary to solve these issues.


Salary Negotiation:

People have been trying to justify the unequal payment to male and female employees with these points.


This is no surprise that negotiation plays a very big role in the decision of the salary of the workers.

And many researches have pointed out to this very fact on why women even when they work the same, might be receiving lesser salaries.

The studies have shown that women, might actually be bad at negotiating salary and or raises.



Why are women bad at salary negotiation?

The article by Harvard Business Review done on 2014, showed that these might be the possible reasons for female employees not negotiating salaries:


Social Cost of Negotiation:

Female Employees

The research showed that more than the confidence level of female employees, the way that managers treat them during negotiation matters more.


The judgement that people make are more important than how well they can negotiate.

This factor was named as one of the major causes for women not preferring to negotiate their salaries.

Furthermore, a similar research of Harvard on 2018 showed that women might actually be negotiating as much as their male counterparts.

However, the chance of them actually getting the raise is 5% lesser.


Studies have shown that the social cost of negotiation for male employees are lesser but for female employees its high.

So, why is this issue still not in check? Most female employees fear these two things while making the negotiation deal:


Fear of being turned down:

Women empowerment


The rate of women’s negotiation demand being rejected is 3 times more likely than their male counterparts.

Getting turned down for asking what you actually deserve is disturbing.

Asking for something that you rightfully deserve and being denied at work can be very stressful.

Women empowerment can make a difference in such a situation. It brings together women and their stories.


It can help women understand the issue and lessen the fear.


Fear of ruining the relationship:

Women empowerment

Women, when they try to negotiate their salaries we deem them as assertive and pushy.


While if a man does that, we admire the assertiveness. Most of the women prefer not talking at all about their salary due to the fear of making the relationship bad .

So, women face larger repercussions for asking about the raise than the actual possibility of getting it.


Explicit Statement for Salary Negotiability on the Job Descriptions:

This research had also shown that women are more open to negotiation when the job description has negotiability mentioned on it.



Negative impact on the performance review:

Female Employees

We know that if women start negotiating for salaries, it is highly likely that their reviews might be affected.

The biases might be seen in the review as a result of the demand they made to their managers or supervisors.


This is mainly a result of the work culture. The managers have developed a negative notion around the assertiveness of women.

We find it intimidating if a female employee tries to negotiate to us.


Women Empowerment and Ways to solve this issue:

So, how can females employees make it better?


Women empowerment is highly necessary in this situation if we want female employees to come up.

The tips that you can use while negotiating are:

  1. Make them understand that your demands are actually legitimate.
  2. Signal that you care about the organizational relationship.

We need to understand that most people do this subconsciously. They don’t realise that they are negotiating.

These things are so deeply rooted in our culture, that we find it suffocating when a woman tries to put forward her wants.


So, lets focus on women empowerment to reduce the pay gap that women can face while doing equal work.

If you liked this article, read these:

Things Women must do for Themselves.

5 Reasons to Hire Women in Your Company


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